In this message we shall consider the exercise and practice of the gospel preaching according to God’s ordained way. We praise the Lord that since the Lord’s ordained way was brought into the recovery, most of the saints and the churches have received it and are continuing in it. However, our exercise and practice of the new way is weak. We may accept the Lord’s ordained way, but we do not have much exercise or practice of it. What we need today is not merely to know what the new way is; we need to exercise in the new way.
If we are going to play a certain kind of ball game, we have to practice with the ball again and again. When I was young, I did not know how to ride a bicycle. Bicycle riding was not popular seventy or eighty years ago in the city where I was living. However, when I was living and working in Shanghai, I realized that I needed to learn to ride a bicycle. Some came to me and tried to teach me how to ride. I told them that I did not need teaching; I just needed to practice. First, I had to learn to get on the bicycle. I tried different ways, and sometimes while trying, I fell. Nevertheless, I learned how to get on the bicycle. Then I had to learn how to pedal the bicycle, but I did not learn by being taught. I fell down again and again, but I kept getting back on. Within about two days I was riding the bicycle with no problem. In the same principle, if we have such a spirit to practice the new way, we will be successful. We need to exercise to practice the new way.
The first thing we need to practice in the God-ordained way for the New Testament service is the preaching of the gospel. We preach the gospel to get sinners saved, to bring them to the Lord. However, this is not the goal. The goal of saving sinners is to build up the Body of Christ. We have a burden to save sinners, but it is not only to rescue the perishing. If soul winning is the only goal of our gospel preaching, we are too shortsighted. We must have God’s sight according to His economy. From eternity past God had an economy. In His economy God wants the people created by Him to be saved for the building up of the Body of Christ. What God desires is not a group of saved sinners. God desires the Body of Christ. We must have a high and long-range view. With this view, we should bear the burden to preach the gospel. When we preach the gospel with this view, we are practicing our priesthood. The first aspect of the New Testament priesthood is for us to preach the gospel to make the saved sinners spiritual sacrifices to be offered to God for His acceptance (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5).
The New Testament opens with the preaching of the gospel. Before the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist’s work was not only to baptize people but also to preach the gospel. He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). John not only baptized people but also preached the gospel that people might be saved and brought to Christ. Following John, the Lord Jesus came. He also preached the gospel (Matt. 4:17). Luke 8:1 says that the Lord “journeyed from city to city and village to village, proclaiming and bringing good news of the kingdom of God.” Besides the cities on earth, there are many villages, smaller lodging places, that we need to visit. The Lord Jesus also sent out the twelve to do the same thing He did (Matt. 10:5). Even this was not adequate, so He sent out seventy to visit every city and place where He Himself was about to come (Luke 10:1). In our going out for the preaching of the gospel, we should not merely go to visit the cities. We have to visit all places. Even the Lord’s sending of the seventy was not adequate, so after His resurrection, He sent all His disciples, charging them to disciple all the nations (Matt. 28:19).
For the preaching of the gospel in the New Testament, John the Baptist went out, and then Jesus Himself. Then He sent the twelve and the seventy, and now He has sent all of us. He has sent all His disciples to visit the cities and every place for the discipling of all the nations (Matt. 28:19). Today the gospel has reached all races, all peoples, and all nations. However, the goal of the gospel is not only to save sinners, to win souls, but also to obtain materials for the building up of the Body of Christ. My burden is for us to see the urgent need for all of us to be in the exercise and practice of preaching the gospel in the God-ordained way.
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